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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725827">Late Arrival</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs'>wackyjacqs</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bizarre Holidays [250]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Stargate SG-1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 17:27:09</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,455</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27725827</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/wackyjacqs/pseuds/wackyjacqs</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack shook his head in bemusement; his wife could be ready to gear up and step through the Stargate for battle in less than ten minutes, but off-duty? </p><p>Well, he learned very quickly into their relationship that <em>that</em> was a completely different story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Samantha "Sam" Carter/Jack O'Neill</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bizarre Holidays [250]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1234973</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>36</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>125</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Late Arrival</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Written for ‘Be Late For Something Day’ (5 September).</p><p>Also, part 250? Whaaaat?! Thank you to every single one of you for being so amazing and supportive.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>“Carter!”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“I’m coming!”</em>
</p><p>Jack shook his head in bemusement; his wife could be ready to gear up and step through the Stargate for battle in less than ten minutes, but off-duty? Well, he learned very quickly into their relationship that <em>that</em> was a completely different story. Usually, though, she’d still manage to be on time.</p><p>Usually. He glanced at his watch and sighed. Sam had been “getting ready” for over an hour now and they were supposed to leave the house ten minutes ago. Not that it really mattered; they were only going to Daniel’s for dinner, but years of life in the Air Force meant Jack was used to a certain way of doing things. He didn’t like to be late. It was the old adage: to be ten minutes early is on time; to be on time, is late.</p><p>
  <em>“You sure you’re all right up there?”</em>
</p><p>
  <em>“Yes!”</em>
</p><p>He waited for a moment and then, confident that Sam <em>would</em> make an appearance shortly, he tapped the bannister with the palm of his hand before he turned from his spot at the foot of the staircase and headed for the kitchen.</p><p>Sam had returned to Earth, and Colorado Springs, three days ago following her latest deployment aboard the Hammond. Her return home also, funnily enough, coincided with the week’s leave Jack had taken from his job in Washington.</p><p>It was the first time in over a month that Sam had been Earth-side and upon returning to their house, they’d spent a lot of the time catching up – in every sense of the word. Jack smirked as he thought over some of the more inventive ways they’d gotten reacquainted. If he was honest, he’d happily stay at home tonight too but they had promised Daniel they would make time to see him and Teal’c before Jack had to go back to D.C.</p><p>With that reminder, he sobered. He was proud of Sam and how her career had progressed over the past year since her rather unfair dismissal from Atlantis, and while Jack was happy to have his wife closer to home, they still spent more time apart than they did together. But, the little voice in his head reminded him, at least they were together and Jack couldn’t argue with that. They <em>were</em> together; had been for years now, although no-one would necessarily know. Aside from their close friends, they still didn’t make a habit of PDAs or mentioning their relationship to those they worked with. But every time Sam had to leave him and go back to saving the galaxy, it got harder for Jack to say goodbye and he started to find himself seriously contemplating retirement. Again.</p><p>He decided once he got back to Washington, he’d have another chat with Hayes about the situation. For now, though... he glanced at his watch once more and rolled his eyes. With a sigh, he left the cherry pie on the counter and went in search of his wife.</p>
<hr/><p>Sam stepped out of the ensuite as she heard Jack shout up the stairs. She winced, then took a deep breath.</p><p>
  <em>“I’m coming!”</em>
</p><p>She only had to grab her heels as her Jack was downstairs but she sat down heavily on the edge of the bed instead and ran a shaky hand through her hair.</p><p>She couldn’t bring herself to do anything else – despite her husband’s reminder that they were already late – and she also felt guilty because she no longer felt like going to Daniel’s for dinner.</p><p>She’d been home for three days now and while it had taken her a while to adjust to more normal surroundings, she was just happy to be home safe once again and spend the time with Jack. But they <em>had</em> promised their former teammates that they would meet up for dinner and drinks before Jack had to leave again. It was before <em>this</em> though.</p><p>She worried her bottom lip between her teeth and closed her eyes. She didn’t know how Jack would react to the fact that she was now late. <em>Really late.</em></p><p>Even though they still didn’t see each other as much as they wanted, things had been good – more than good – between them ever since her return from Atlantis and while a tiny part of her is still disappointed at how her command ended, she now knows it had nothing to do with how she commanded. In addition, her reassignment to the George Hammond also meant she got to spend more time with Jack. Her lips twisted into a smile and she felt herself flush as memories of their most recent – and private – reunion resurfaced in her mind.</p><p>Her amusement quickly faded however at the sound of heavy footsteps coming up the stairs and she pushed herself off the bed.</p><p>“You’ve got this,” she muttered to herself as she slipped into her heels in an attempt to look busy. “It’ll be fine. Everything will be fine.”</p><p>“Why wouldn’t it be?”</p><p>Sam jumped. She hadn’t heard Jack step into their room, nor did she expect to find him standing as close to her as he was. His hands came to rest on her hips, while his lips hovered by her ear. He pressed a kiss on the sensitive spot behind her ear and she sighed softly.</p><p>“Is everything OK?”</p><p>“I’m late,” she blurted out.</p><p>She closed her eyes in resignation but then she felt Jack smirk against her skin before he nuzzled his nose in her hair.</p><p>“I know,” he said smugly. He pulled back and Sam took the opportunity to step out of his embrace and towards the bed. “That’s why I’m now standing here; I came to get you.”</p><p>She ran a hand through her hair again before she shook her head. “No. I’m late.”</p><p>Jack frowned at her but Sam held his gaze as he studied her and she saw the confusion on his face as he tried to figure out whether she was OK – or whether she’d suddenly been replaced by an alien duplicate.</p><p>“Uh –”</p><p>She took a step closer and lowered her voice. <em>“I’m late,”</em> she stressed.</p><p><em>“Carter!”</em> Jack winced at his tone and sighed. “Look, personally, I don’t care if we don’t go to dinner. I’d rather –”</p><p>He stopped abruptly when Sam shook her head. She turned and headed for the ensuite and Jack watched her go in bemusement but before he could ask her what was wrong, she returned. She came to a stop before him and held up a small white plastic stick and he slowly took it from her.</p><p>His eyes widened as he looked at it, then at Sam, back to the test and then to his wife again.</p><p>“You’re… late.”</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“Are you,” he hesitated, “are you sure?”</p><p>“Yeah,” she whispered.</p><p>Jack let his hand fall by his side and ran his other hand through his hair as he blew out a long breath.</p><p>“I know we talked about starting a family but we never – and I didn’t – I didn’t suspect anything – I felt fine, but –”</p><p>“You’re late.”</p><p>The quiet words cut through Sam’s nervous rambling and as Jack finally met her eye again, she self-consciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.</p><p>“Jack,” she breathed, “I –”</p><p>The rest of her sentence was interrupted as Jack cupped her face with his hands and he pressed his lips to hers. She started to respond to the kiss, even though she had no idea what was going on, when Jack finally pulled back and rested his forehead against hers. She caught a flicker of a smile before he pressed another feather-light kiss to her lips.</p><p>“You’re late,” he murmured goofily, and Sam couldn’t help but laugh.</p><p>“I think we’ve established that by now.”</p><p>“I – you – we –”</p><p>She sobered. “Are you – I mean we haven’t discussed – I don’t –”</p><p>“Sam,” he whispered. “I –” He swallowed hard at the lump in his throat and pulled her into his embrace, crushing her against him. “Thank you,” he whispered. He dropped a kiss into her hair, but Sam heard the waver in his voice. <em>“Thank you.”</em></p><p>They stood silently pressed together in the middle of their bedroom for a few minutes when Jack sighed. The action made Sam tense, and for a moment she started to worry that the reality of their situation was now setting in for him but Jack gave her a squeeze before he took a step back and ran his hands along Sam’s arms and he caught her hands in his.</p><p>“We still gotta go to dinner,” she reminded him quietly.</p><p>“Yeah, I know” he said. He studied her for a moment before he started to smirk. “Do you wanna tell the guys why we’re late, or shall I?”</p>
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